Contribution from Jenny Bimrose Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick

Like many other theorists, Roberts has developed and modified his views over a long period of time.

The ‘opportunity structure’ model was first proposed by Roberts (1968, p176) as an alternative to theories of career development advanced by Ginzberg and Super. On the basis of a survey involving 196 young men aged between 14 and 23 selected by a random canvas of households in a part of London, Roberts (1968) suggested that the:

'momentum and direction of school leavers' careers are derived from the way in which their job opportunities become cumulatively structured and young people are placed in varying degrees of social proximity, with different ease of access to different types of employment'  (p179)

Roberts (1968) did not suggest that his alternative theory is one of universal validity (p179). Rather, he argued that entry to employment in different social contexts requires different explanatory frameworks and that entry into employment does not take place in a similar manner amongst all groups of young people, even in the same society. The determinants of occupational choice identified are:

• the home;
• the environment;
• the school;
• peer groups;
• job opportunities.

He challenged the relevance of the concept of choice embedded in psychological theories, emphasising the structure of constraints:

'An adequate theory for understanding school-leavers' transition to employment in Britain needs to be based around the concept not of `occupational choice', but of `opportunity structure' (Roberts, 1977, p183)

As a consequence, the scope of careers guidance was somewhat restricted, since it could not make jobs more rewarding for individuals nor create opportunities for personal growth and development. Roberts’ contribution to careers theory carried with it particular significance because he spelt out the implications for careers guidance practice (1977). These included: how the guidance process inevitably became a matter of a adjusting the individual to opportunities available; how guidance should be centred around an individual's immediate problems; and how careers services should concentrate on developing a good information service and more on placement and follow-up. The primary role of practitioners, according to Roberts, was to service the needs of the labour market, rather than to educate, facilitate, or indeed anything else implicated by other theories (Roberts, 1977).

Roberts' critique of developmental theories and new model of occupational allocation was received with caution and scepticism by the guidance community in the UK. A strident critic of Roberts' early ideas was Peter Daws. He criticised both Roberts' (1977) opportunity structure model and his views about the limited effects of careers guidance as both conservative (Daws, 1977) and fatalistic (Daws, 1992). In response, he promoted the value of careers education programmes as being capable of encouraging social change by supporting and educating the individual (Daws, 1977).

Far from changing his ideas as a result of these criticisms, Roberts revised and expanded his determinants of occupational allocation as a result of research into comparative labour markets (buoyant compared with depressed) in the UK. He emphasised (Roberts, 1984) the importance of local labour markets on job seeking for young people, finding that:

distance to work:

a key issue because the average was three miles because of the costs of travel;

qualifications:

continued to be important, since even low exam grades made a difference in finding work;

informal contacts:

crucial, since large firms operated as internal labour markets for young people;

ethnicity:

race operated as multi-dimensional disadvantage (i.e. housing, education and employment);

gender:

identified as a significant inhibiting factor because, since the aspirations of girls and women were found to be low and short term;

cyclical and structural factors:

operating within the economy resulted in a demand for smaller labour forces in which higher skill levels were required. In these circumstances, young people were found to be particularly vulnerable.

Further research into comparative labour markets in the UK and Germany revealed striking similarities in the labour market constraints operating upon young people in these different European countries. Bynner and Roberts (1991) assessed the importance of a country's education and training system for its economic prosperity. Key findings included, first, that broadly similar routes to employment in the two countries were found to exist (career trajectories); second, that for each career trajectory, these routes originated in education, family and background.

In 1995, Roberts argued that the debate about `choice versus opportunity' was never won decisively by either side (p111) because:

• there is an acknowledgement that the opportunities for choice are different amongst different groups of young people;
• the transition period for young people to move from education to employment is now so extended that almost all young people are able to exercise some choices at some stage of this process.

Various changes (e.g. economic restructuring, higher unemployment and pressure from young people and their parents) have necessitated new concepts (Roberts, 1995, 1997) to understand the process of transitions into employment:

Individualization:

Life patterns have become more individually distinctive than ever before, because of shrinking social networks and changed social behaviour. Several trends have contributed, including:

• breakup of the concentration of employment in the firms and industries that once dominated many local labour markets;
• higher rates of residential mobility;
• the increasing instability of marriages and families;
• the weakening of neighbourhood and religious communities.

Uncertain Destinations & Risk

Robert's uses the image of different types of transport to convey an understanding of how individuals undertake life transitions. He suggests that typically, people embarkon their life journeys without reliable maps - in private cars, rather than the trains and buses in which entire classes once travelled together. Reflecting reality, these vehicles don't all have equally powerful engines. That is, some young people have already accumulated advantages in terms of economic assets and socio-cultural capital. Some have to travel by bicycle or on foot. Common to all is the requirement to take risks. (Roberts, 1995, p118)

Individualization makes young people's later destinations unclear. Young people themselves are aware of this uncertainty and career steps now invariably involve some degree of risk.

Life course replaces life cycle

Established patterns are disappearing where individuals prepared for adulthood, then establish themselves in occupational careers and families. Marital instability together with the growing expectation that individuals will return to education throughout their adult lives (i.e. lifelong learning) has resulted in what Roberts refers to as a destandardization of the life cycle.

Roberts identifies general policy implications and some specifically for career guidance:

a) Customization

There is a need for continuous, individualized careers information, advice and guidance. Young people need customized assistance that matches their particular circumstances and involves a mixtures of strategy and chance.

Overall, guidance practitioners should acknowledge uncertainty, and help young people work with it:

'....whereas it used to be the minority of young people who made prolonged transitions and embarked on careers that would create individualised biographies, these are now the majority situations...... there were always those at age 20 or older, who had little idea of where they were heading. Thirty years ago, they might have been described as vocationally immature. Nowadays, the situation has spread to the majority and what was once labelled immaturity has become plain realism.'  (1997, p349)

b) Normalization:

It is important for practitioners to help clients recognise that this situation is normal and prevent individuals worrying. Information about options and their uncertainties should be included in the guidance process and practitioners will constantly need to update about the changing requirements of employment.

Conclusion

Roberts, like other theorists, has been developing ideas in response to changes that have occurred over the past 30 years. Guidance practitioners have often reacted negatively to his thinking. His views about the limitations of guidance have been regarded as deterministic, negative and even gloomy, denying the autonomy of the individual and their right to choose. However, many of his ideas have been reflected in policy changes that have been implemented in the area of careers guidance over the past 20 years. In 1997, he warned that careers services' preoccupation with a target driven culture and with action plans was endangering resources being drawn away from the clients who most needed help to those who were most adept, as consumers, at working systems to their advantage: `Guidance staff may feel, or be made to feel, unable to devote the necessary time to young people whose problems are likely to be the most time-consuming (p358). The refocusing agenda has, of course, now ensured that this is less likely to occur.

In an assessment of the impact of the Connexions Service on careers guidance, Roberts (2000) concluded that it will be at the heart of the new service. The new policy priorities embodied in the Connexions Service demand a particular combination of knowledge and skills which careers services can supply. He observes that:

'Many careers officers have long aspired to broaden out into life counselling. They will now have that chance. The attractions of careers in careers guidance will receive a boost' (p27).

References

Bynner et al 1991

Bynner, J. & Roberts, K. (1991) (eds) Youth and Work: Transition to employment in England and Germany, London: Anglo-German Foundation.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Daws 1981

Daws, P.P. (1981) The socialisation/opportunity-structure theory of the occupational location of school leavers: A critical appraisal, in Watts, A.G., Super, D.E. & Kidd, J.M. (Eds) Career Development in Britain: Some contributions to theory and practice, Cambridge, England: CRAC/Hobsons Press, p246-278.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Daws 1992

Daws, P. (1992) Are Careers Education Programmes in Seconday Schools a Waste of Time? - A Reply to Roberts: Postcript in Dryden, W. & Watts, A.G (eds) Guidance and Counselling in Britain: a 20 year perspective, Cambridge: Hobsons Publishing, p208-210.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Roberts 1968

Roberts, K. (1968) `The entry into employment: an approach towards a general theory', Sociological Review, 16, p165-84.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Roberts 1977

Roberts, K. (1977) `The social conditions, consequences and limitations of career guidance', British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 5, p1-9.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Roberts 1984

Roberts,K. (1984) School Leavers and their Prospects, Buckingham: OU Press.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Roberts 1993

Roberts, K. (1993) `Career Trajectories and the mirage of increased social mobility', in Bates, I. and Riseboroug (eds.), Youth and Inequality, Buckingham: OU Press.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Roberts 1995

Roberts, K. (1995) Youth Employment in Modern Britain, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Roberts 1997

Roberts, K. (1997) `Prolonged Transitions to Uncertain Destinations: the implications for careers guidance', in British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 25, 3, p345-360

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.

Roberts 2000

Roberts, K. (2000) Cause for optimism: Current reforms can work, in Careers Guidance Today, 8, 5, p25-27.

Apart from a privileged minority of the population individuals are (more or less) constrained in their choice of occupations by social variables that are outside their control e.g. gender, ethnicity and social class.